SIDEBAR

For Kim Dorland, the invitation to become the McMichael gallery’s newest artist-in-residence is a bit like Charlie Bucket scoring a golden ticket to visit Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.

Mr. Dorland, you see, is a huge fan of Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven — so much so, in fact, that he named one of his sons Thomson.

And now he has an all-access pass to the treasure trove of works by the revered Canadian landscape painters housed at the Kleinburg gallery.

“My initial influences for painting were the Group of Seven, heavily leaning toward Thomson,” said Dorland, 39, who grew up central Alberta, but is now based in Toronto. “As a 17-year-old, I always wanted to come out here and look at the masterworks. So, to be invited to work with them, is, obviously, a big thrill for me. And maybe just a little bit intimidating.”

Mr. Dorland is perhaps best known for his massive impasto pieces — where paint is slathered onto a surface so thick you can see every brush stroke — that reference the Canadian tradition of landscape painting.

But he is quick to point out the paintings he is creating for his upcoming exhibit won’t simply repeat what’s been done by the Group of Seven.

“If somebody’s coming to the McMichael to see this show, there will be a definite lineage to the work they are used to (seeing) in the collection,” the married father of two young sons said. “Having said that, I also think that my work is decidedly contemporary. It’s not like they’re passing the torch to me and I’m carrying it on.”

Judging from some of his past exhibitions, that’s certainly true.

One of Mr. Dorland’s previous shows, for example, featured stuffed and mounted animal heads spattered with thick globs of paint.

He’s also been known to embed objects such as fur, screws and pieces of wood into his pieces.

And then there’s the fact he sometimes uses spray paint, glow-in-the dark pigments and an iPad to create his artworks.

Mr. Dorland is a few months into his new gig and has been spending a lot of time in the gallery’s archives or wandering deep into the heavily forested property surrounding the McMichael, snapping photographs with Polaroid cameras, sketching and painting.

He’s also trekked north to Georgian Bay where Thomson and his colleagues drew inspiration for some of their best-known paintings.

But Mr. Dorland’s biggest thrill, so far, came when he walked through the Tom Thomson room picking the paintings he wants to use for his show.

“… He’s just a brilliant painter and the fact that I have access to these painting and I can make any kind of curatorial decision, then make works based on it, that’s amazing,” Mr. Dorland said. “And the works they have here are some of the best.”

Mr. Dorland hopes to create 50 to 60 original pieces for his show, You Are Here: Kim Dorland and the Return to Painting, on display at McMichael from Oct. 26 to Jan. 5.

He readily admits to feeling the weight of having his paintings judged against iconic works by Mr. Thomson and the Group of Seven.

“It’s nerve-wracking because this show is an homage to some of the greatest Canadian painters, so, naturally, my work is going to be compared. That’s more than a little nerve wracking,” he said.

McMichael chief curator Katerina Atanassova has been a big fan of Mr. Dorland’s paintings since she first encountered them in 2008. She’s confident that visitors who come to see his show will be impressed.

“He is finding an interesting way to respond to important masterworks in our collection,” she said. “I strongly believe people will react to Kim’s work in a very positive way.”